Dissonance In A Broken Vessel
by theapexpredat0r
Summary: You can change your destiny. But sometimes that destiny should never have been changed in the first place. Matt and Steve find a glowing crystal in the backyard of a rave. Andrew catches a ride home with someone else. But ever since that night he's been having the feeling that something went horribly, horribly wrong.
1. Chapter 1

It all starts with the party.

Well, that isn't exactly true. In reality, it started before that, when Andrew first got the camera and swore he was going to document everything that happened to him. Matt thought that was really fucking stupid, but he didn't say so. Not to Andrew, who was breakable and kind of unstable ever since the beginning of highschool. It was senior year now and he was just as sensitive. It was refreshing in a way, someone being so affected by the way Matt tried not to let himself be.

The camera got annoying pretty fast. First off, it was this huge piece of shit from, like, 2004. Andrew could barely hold it up. That alone got him enough insults and remarks from the kids at school. Secondly, he filmed _everything._ Literally everything. And while some people had good-natured fun with it, others didn't take as kindly to being on camera. More than once, Andrew came to school with a fresh bruise or two somewhere on him.

So when Matt suggested they go to the upcoming senior rave at an abandoned barn on the other side of town and Andrew showed no interest in going or, at the very most, going and bringing his camera, Matt thumped his head back against the seat. "Jesus Christ, Andrew."

"Keep your eyes on the road, Matt, seriously."

"No, but really, Andrew...c'mon. You complain about the kids at school and then you do shit to piss them off even more. You're asking for it, dude, you really are." Andrew made a face. "No, okay? I'm telling you this for your own good. You wanna be popular, right?"

Andrew laid his head against the window and watched the scenery pass by. "Not really."

"Okay, well, I'm assuming you don't want your face bashed in. And Andrew, I am telling you that if you bring that camera, you are going to be unrecognizable at school on Monday morning."

The only sound for a while was the tires on the asphalt.

Finally, Matt said, "You're a cool guy, Andrew. I know that. But you gotta show that to everyone else. Understand?"

"Yeah," said Andrew.

"I don't think you believe me."

Andrew groaned.

"That's more like it."

Matt drove Andrew to the party that night only after his cousin agreed to leave the camera at home, and even then it only happened because Matt promised to buy Andrew school lunch for two weeks straight. While school lunch wasn't anything to celebrate, it was better than the PB&J Andrew tended to bring every day, as that was all that was in the house.

"God, I can't believe we're doing this," complained Andrew as they pulled up to the barn.

The lights were already flashing through the windows of the building. Matt could feel the bass travel through the ground and into the car through the tires. "It's gonna be fun, Andrew. Lighten up. Have fun. Kiss a girl, for Christ's sakes."

"That would require a girl that doesn't find me repulsive."

"Your attitude is terrible, anyone ever tell you that?"

Andrew grinned. "Once or twice."

Matt spent most of the time flirting with girls he barely even knew as well as running into a girl he liked named Casey, who he'd been interested in since freshman year. Her eyes traveled over Andrew a few seconds longer than Matt was comfortable with, so he moved in front of where his cousin was milling about in the crowd. That was nearly the only contact he had with him the whole night. He mostly just left Andrew to his own devices, which consisted mainly of wandering around in the crowd with no rhyme or reason.

Sometime during the night, there was an exodus of people from the back edge of the building. Around fifty of them were heading to the woods. Matt wasn't sure why. As he followed out of curiosity, he heard confused, scattered conversation regarding it. Apparently, there was a huge hole in the ground out in the woods and everyone was leaving to go see what it was. It didn't seem the sort of thing to prompt such a reaction, but Matt tagged along anyway.

When he finally reached the clearing that the hole was located at, the crowd surrounding it, he sort of understood the hype over it. It was uniform in shape, like a meteor landing site. Maybe that was what it was, which would be incredible. It was over three feed wide.

Some of the kids were on their hands and knees around it.

"Why are they doing that?" Matt asked the person next to him, some guy from algebra he'd never talked to before.

"Apparently," the kid answered, "it sings."

While the meteor site was cool, it took all of ten minutes for most of the crowd to get bored with it. By the time they'd left, the only people remaining were Matt and another senior, who met up at the hole and took turns listening to it sing.

"Holy shit, man," said the other guy. "I don't know why they left. This is some crazy shit right here." When he straightened up, he extended a hand. "Name's Steve Montgomery."

"Matt Garetty."

Matt felt kind of self-conscious. He'd seen Steve's picture plastered on all the billboards at school due to his running for student body president. The most Matt had ever done was spend a month in Newspaper Club because Kelsey Arlington, who sat behind him in science, mentioned to a friend that sat across from her that Bryon Cox had been so much hotter ever since he joined Newspaper. When Matt found out it was a Bryon Cox thing and not a Newspaper thing he dropped out with no notice. Meanwhile Steve had been president of at least four clubs and joined twice as many.

It wasn't like Steve was flaunting that now, though. He was like any normal teenage boy, obsessed with this meteor site, or whatever it was. He kept bringing Matt closer to listen to it with a huge grin on his face. They'd spend several minutes at a time crouched over the hole, absorbing the sound that it made. It struck something within them, something that started in their chests and flowed up to settle behind their eyes and made its way down to spark inside their fingertips.

Matt wasn't sure how long he'd laid there on his stomach, arms forming an oval in front of him and his head resting on his hands, when a picture suddenly exploded in his head. He'd never thought of something and had it be so vivid.

"Andrew," he said. "We gotta bring my cousin."

"Why?" asked Steve, purely curious.

"I don't know. We just have to. He needs to see this," Matt said with conviction. He wasn't sure where the sudden longing to have Andrew here came from, but he went along with it. "Besides, I'm the kid's ride home. I gotta let him know where we are, just in case."

"Don't worry, I'll get him." And just like that, Steve was off, climbing up the hill, disappearing into the trees. Matt resigned himself to laying his head back down and listening to whatever was down there singing to him. He barely even noticed when Steve came back about fifteen minutes later, crashing through the undergrowth, looking dejected.

"Hey man, bad news," he said, walking up to Matt. "I found him, that's the good part. Wasn't too hard to find. He was sulking outside 'cause I guess some asshole got on his case about what he was wearing and shit. We really gotta get that kid a new wardrobe."

Matt agreed but said, "What's the bad part?"

"The bad part is he already found a ride home with someone else. A _lady_," Steve announced, grinning. "I mean, it's kind of a good and a bad thing at the same time."

Matt attempted to call his cousin, but whatever was down there was jamming the signal. Finally he just sent a "be safe, remember the condoms" text and then looked up at Steve, who said, "Wanna go down there?"

"Hell yeah."


	2. Chapter 2

"Matt, I am not coming over there if you have the swine flu. My dad would crucify me if I came home with the swine flu, okay?"

"It's not the swine flu, Andrew, Jesus. Just get your ass over here."

Andrew switched off the call and headed out the door, feeling Richard's eyes from behind him in the living room. He didn't stop him, though, so Andrew closed the door behind him and walked down the sidewalk towards Matt's house in the next development over, the richer development, the one that had three-story houses and everything. Sprinklers that went off at certain times. Some people even had lawn care that was included with the rent.

He kind of felt out of place with his five-dollar thrift store jeans and his ever-present grey hoodie. He distantly remembered that he was supposed to get a haircut as soon as the unemployment came in. He guessed he would just get it trimmed. Kids with money always tended to keep their hair on the longer side, at least touching their shoulders. They'd probably tell him he was trying too hard, beat him up again to pound their point into his head.

Matt's house was decorated for fall. Mrs. Garetty was the kind of person that made her house completely over for each new season or holiday. She had the little scarecrows in the window and the leaf wreath hanging on the door and the brown-and-yellow WELCOME BACK! doormat which Andrew had always found vaguely threatening, like once you stepped foot in the Garetty house you were doomed to return periodically for the rest of you life. He felt kind of sorry for himself. Other people could just move across country and drop all contact. Andrew was forced to go to family reunions and such even if he and Matt were having an argument to rival daytime court television.

He knocked before he could change his mind.

Matt answered the door, grinning wide enough to split his face. "I didn't think you'd come."

"Bullshit, you knew I would."

"Yeah, I did. Come on."

He grabbed Andrew's wrist and yanked him inside. The door shut behind them.

"What the hell?" Andrew looked back and forth between Matt and the door, the former too excited to pay attention and the latter not having the ability to. "Did that thing just shut by itself? There's no wind, Matt. Matt!"

The other cousin turned around, still grinning. "You ask way too many questions. C'mon, we're going to the kitchen, I just learned how to do this today."

He let go of Andrew's wrist and turned the corner to the kitchen. Andrew followed behind him, groaning. "This better be good, you've been leaving fourth period early every single day for two weeks. I swear to God, Matt, if you have the swine flu-"

"Jesus, Andrew, leave the swine flu thing alone. And I leave fourth period early all the time. 's when I toke up to get me through the rest of the day, you know that. Anyway, that's not what this is about. Open the cabinet with the plates."

Matt was standing two feet from the cabinet, cracking his knuckles.

"Why can't you do it?" Andrew asked.

"God damn it, Andrew, will you just...stop with the questions already and just fuckin' do it."

Sighing, Andrew opened the cabinet and crossed his arms over his chest. "Go ahead. Wow me."

"Uh." Matt regarded Andrew's placement. "You might want to step back."

Andrew rolled his eyes but obliged. "Okay. _Now_ wow me with whatever incredible feat you have mastered, Your Majesty."

"Could you tone down the sarcasm, Captain Negative? No one needs your sass. You're gonna lose your shit over this."

"I have yet to be impressed."

"Then shut the hell up! Christ."

Matt's face took on a look of complete concentration, his eyes trained on the cabinet. Andrew was about to make a rude comment about how Matt's expression made him look like he was trying to pass a kidneystone when he heard the shifting of glassware in the cabinet, followed by one of the plates hovering out into the air. It was shaky, like someone invisible was having extreme difficulty holding it up, but it was definitely moving. "Holy shit," said Andrew, watching it move through the air. "Holy _shit_! Matt! Matt, how the hell are you fucking doing that?! Holy _SHIT!_"

The plate almost got to Matt before it suddenly dropped, succumbing to gravity and splintering into a thousand pieces. Matt groaned and said, "Shit, that was one of her favorites. Guess I'm going to IKEA."

He looked up at Andrew to gauge his reaction.

"Oh, shit. Shit, Andrew, breathe. Awh, god damn it." He searched manually through the cabinets until he found the Xanax he kept there for Andrew and made his way to the other side of the kitchen to the living room where his cousin was pacing with his eyes shut and his hands over his ears, muttering incomprehensible words. "Andrew. Hey, Andrew, open your eyes." He took hold of Andrew's right arm and gently lowered it, which stopped Andrew's talking to himself. Slowly, his cousin's eyes opened and caught the pills in Matt's hand. "No water?" he managed to get out through the panic choking him.

Matt got water and Andrew gulped down the pills without hesitation. Matt led him to the couch and made him sit down while he cleaned up the remains of the plate. When he was done, he sat down beside Andrew and rubbed his back in circles the way his mom did when he was young and trapped home with a stomachache or nausea. He wasn't sure if it helped with anxiety attacks, especially the severe ones Andrew was afflicted with, but his cousin had never objected so he guessed it didn't hurt things.

"Sorry," he said sincerely. "I'm kind of used to it by now. I didn't think about what it would do to you. Are you okay?"

"Are you kidding me? I'm, like, half-wondering if I hallucinated that! What the hell _was_ that? Did you drug me? Oh my god, you _do_ have the swine flu and now I have it and now I'm seeing things. If you think giving me the swine flu is funny, Matt, it's fucking not, I do _not_ have the money to pay for medication for that shit."

"Andrew, if you mention the swine flu one more time, I will cut off your balls."

"Okay." Andrew gave a shaky exhale. "What the hell happened, then?"

"Okay, okay. Remember the rave? In the barn? Three weeks ago?"

Andrew rolled his eyes. "How could I forget? You ran off and made me find my own ride home."

"I _wouldn't_ have. If you'd come. I was as pissed that you found another ride as you were that I went off without you. Anyway, Steve and I found this thing, okay? Underground. I don't know what it was, like, some kind of gigantic blue crystal, I guess. We went up and touched it, and it turned all red and, like, freaky? And then we were able to do this. Moving stuff. With our minds." Matt resumed his playful grin. "Crazy, right?"

"Crazy how bad of a storyteller you are."

Matt's smile disappeared. "I told you, I'm not making this up!"

"I know! Jesus. But if you're planning on letting anyone else know, you might want to work on your explanations. Because that was fucking terrible."

"Don't be a dick, Andrew." But he was smiling again, and Andrew was smiling back.

"Since when are you and Steve Montgomery friends?"

"Since _forever_, Andrew. He can only hope to match my wickedly high popularity levels. He should consider himself lucky he even got a sliver of my attention."

Andrew looked alarmed. Matt was confused until his cousin said, "Dude, your nose is bleeding. Like, really fucking badly."

"Oh yeah, that." Matt went to get a paper towel. "Yeah, that happens a lot."


	3. Chapter 3

Matt was adamant about Andrew meeting Steve.

"He doesn't even know me," was the strongest argument Andrew could come up with.

Matt was busy forcing his cousin along the path down the hall that would get them to Steve's locker. "He won't care. I didn't know him before the rave. And vice versa. But now we're practically best friends. He's a cool guy, Andrew."

"Yeah, but Matt," said Andrew, "you're best friends because you both touched a glowing rock."

"Andrew, I am trying to get you friends. Could you just go along with it for once?"

_"Fine."_

He didn't seem to be making any effort, though. When they arrived at Steve's locker, the only response to Steve's excited expression and introduction was Andrew's half-hearted "hi, I'm Andrew" and then his eyes dropping to the floor.

"Sorry my cousin is such a douche," said Matt. "He's better once you get to know him."

Andrew gave Matt a pointed glare. "'Better'?"

"Sure," said Steve, prompting the boys to look at him. "Everyone is," he continued. "It's scary as shit to open up to someone you met forty seconds ago. It's cool, though, we don't have to be best friends right away or nothin'."

"This is why he's running for student body president," said Matt.

"This is why I need a better cousin," deadpanned Andrew.

"He knows about the...thing," Matt told Steve, completely ignoring Andrew. "You know. The, uh...the crystal thing. At the barn."

"I know that you have psychic powers," Andrew summarized.

"Jesus Christ, Andrew, not out loud."

"Well, you were taking too long!"

Steve decided right away that he liked Andrew.

"Has he always been this way?" he asked.

"What way?" asked Andrew.

"Insufferable," said Steve.

"Oh _god_, yes. He's such a whiny bitch about everything. Ever since we were kids."

Andrew wasn't even paying attention to the fact that he'd just said more consecutive words to Steve than he'd ever said to almost anyone. This was, of course, Steve's plan, but he didn't let on. Matt, who was half-aware of it, continued to add fuel to the fire.

By the time the exchange was over, Steve knew Andrew's last name (Detmer), his favorite color (orange), and had his phone number without even needing to persuade him. They also had plans for Friday afternoon to go out and see, all three of them, what the psychic stuff could really do. It was Andrew's suggestion, even.

"I mean. we're not just gonna sit around and watch Matt break all his mom's dishes and have that be it. By the way, Matt, how'd that go?"

"IKEA had a few left in the back. My mom didn't come home from book club until after I'd replaced it."

"She'll sense it soon enough," said Steve.

Matt looked confused. "What?"

"That the plate's different, man. Mothers _know_ those things." He glanced at Andrew. "Right, Drew?"

Andrew's amused face disappeared instantly. He stared down at his shoes again, which he hadn't done since the beginning of the conversation. "I wouldn't know."

Matt rubbed the back of his neck, looking embarrassed. "Andrew's mom is, uh...terminally ill. They're not sure exactly what it is except that it targets the respiratory system. She's pretty weak, can't go through many tests. Sensitive subject, y'know?"

"Shit, Andrew, I'm sorry. Man, no kid should have to go through that. Jesus Christ."

"It's okay," said Andrew, still speaking to the floor.

"To be honest, I think the reason Andrew said he wouldn't know is because his mom is a fucking saint," Matt said. "She'd be so blissful and cheery she wouldn't even notice. Right, Andrew?"

He could see Andrew smiling. "Yeah," he agreed. "She was Snow fucking White when she wasn't sick. I half-expected the animals to come in the kitchen and start singing with her." His expression neutralised as he lifted his head. "She was a great singer."

The bell rang in the seconds of silence that followed.

"Well, on that cheery note," said Matt, "we all gotta get to class. Guess we'll see what happens Friday afternoon, right?"

"What the hell were you trying to do?"

Matt and Andrew were sitting in the school nurse's office, Matt holding a paper towel which was already bloody to his nose to staunch the flow. Andrew had never seen so much blood come out of a person's nose at one time.

"I wasn't trying to do anything," Matt said, his voice nasally from the way he was pinching it. "Steve and I have this bond now, I guess, and when he does stuff I can feel it...and the other way around."

"So he was trying to do stuff?"

"I guess so. I don't know."

The nurse came back in with more paper towels for Matt. She seemed concerned, but Matt and Andrew assured her everything was fine. Matt was just stressed out. He had a feeling she didn't believe him, but it was just a heavy nosebleed, so probably she didn't much care.

Steve came in a few minutes later with the same nosebleed. He grinned at Matt and Andrew and sat down beside them when he was given paper towels as well.

"What were you trying?" Matt asked him.

"Nothing. They just come spontaneously sometimes. But hey, now we match."

The two of them pounded fists. Andrew gave a huge sigh like he couldn't believe how lame they were being when he was the one that carried a camera everywhere. Matt had at least gotten him a smaller one so he wasn't picked on too much. He still wouldn't put it down, though. He turned it on and aimed it at Matt's face. "So what are you thinking about this sudden burst of bodily fluids escaping your face?"

"It fuckin' rocks," Matt said through the paper towel.

"Yeah," said Steve from next to him. "Hardcore."

"God, you guys are lame," said Andrew, laughing, and shut the camera off.

Friday afternoon came way too quickly for Andrew's liking.

He took a Xanax in the morning, one at lunch, and one at the end of seventh period. You were only supposed to take like two a day at the most, but Andrew was way too nervous to worry about dosage. They weren't dangerous. His hands had stopped shaking by the time he met up with Matt and Steve at Steve's car.

"Hi," he said to Steve's torso.

"His eyes are on his face, Andrew," Matt snapped.

Steve notice what was about to happen and said, "Yeah, Drew, stop staring at my boobs."

That did the trick. Andrew grinned and let himself look at Steve's face and Matt laughed and the bomb was diffused. Steve left his car at the school, claiming that his girlfriend would pick it up, and the three of them piled into Matt's car.

"Are you sure your friends are gonna be okay with this?" Matt asked halfway down the road.

Steve raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't they be?"

"Because you're hanging out with a stoner and a social pariah with anxiety disorder," Andrew piped up from the backseat.

"Man, that's all the shit you guys gotta stop worrying about," said Steve. "Like, who cares who I hang out with? Why should that even matter? I'll hang out with who I wanna hang out with. If I'm gonna hang out with a stoner and an anxious social pariah then that's what I'm gonna do."

That was the end of the conversation. Matt and Andrew weren't convinced, but they accepted it.

"There," Andrew said suddenly, pointing at the window.

Matt and Steve looked outside. They were just passing a Five Below positioned in a strip mall. Matt pulled into the parking lot and Steve said, "Perfect. Freaking perfect. We are gonna have so much fun here."

And they did. They hid in the aisles and Andrew acted as lookout and Matt sent a grocery cart down another aisle while the woman manning it was turned away. When she turned around she was met with the sight of the cart turning an impossible left turn around the corner. She chased it anyway and Andrew had to turn around with his hand over his mouth to keep from letting Matt know he was laughing hysterically. Steve just added to it, making a little girl scream by hovering a bear in front of her and sending stuffed animals into another woman's cart.

Andrew lost it when Matt tried to snatch a guy's gum out of his mouth and ended up sending him flying into a shelf. Matt and Steve started to make a run for the exit.

"Why are we running?" Steve asked over his laughing. Not like anyone would be able to pin Matt as the person who did it.

The guy whirled around and saw Andrew standing there behind the clearance shelf, his camera in hand, recording the entire thing and cracking up.

"Hey! Was that you?! What the hell, man?!"

"Oh, shit," said Andrew, and bolted for the door.

He ended up running straight into the manager.

"Uh...hi," he offered. He checked the man's nametag. "...Dennis."

Dennis looked like he went to the gym often and had a haircut that was way too close to military-style for Andrew's comfort. "What do you think you're doing shoving people around in my store?"

"Aw shit, Andrew," said Steve from an aisle near the door. "Getting in trouble for our psychic negligence. Man, I can't watch this. Tell me when it's over."

"It wasn't me," Andrew protested weakly. Right about now he was glad he'd taken those extra pills. He was scared enough to vomit up his own insides.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah, promise. I was just, just filming, and-"

As soon as he said it, he knew it was a mistake. The camera had all the documentation of Matt and Steve's psychic powers on it. If Dennis got a hold of it, he wouldn't worry about calling the police. He'd go right to the National Guard. Area 51. The government. The CIA. Matt and Steve would be spread out on a lab table for dissection.

Dennis made a motion with his hand that was very clear. _Give me the camera. Now._

Andrew racked his brain for an excuse.

He wasn't prepared for when one of the big aisles on the other side of them crashed down, sending merchandise everywhere. Dennis turned his attention to it for just a second and Andrew used it to sprint out the door behind Matt and Steve. They didn't stop until they were in Matt's car and speeding away.

The first to speak was Andrew. "OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD."

Matt was holding onto the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were white.

"WAS THAT YOU WITH THE AISLE, MATT."

"No, Andrew, it was that six-year-old boy looking at the plastic beach buckets, OF COURSE IT WAS ME."

"STOP SCREAMING!" Steve screamed, and the three of them burst into laughter so hard Matt had to pull over onto a side street because he couldn't breathe through his hysterics. None of them could. Steve had his face buried in his collar and Andrew had his head tipped back, the most pure and genuine laughter he'd ever had.

"I thought I was a goner," he said when he could speak again.

"I was writing your eulogy," Steve added.

"I was writing a eulogy for all three of us," said Matt.

"Good news," said Andrew, "is that I got all of that on camera."

"Shit, really? Let me see." Steve took the camera and played through it, cracking up when he heard the crash the aisle made. "Shit, we can never shop there again. You hear me? We can never show our faces in there again."

Sometime later, they were driving down the road headed for home. It was raining and there was a truck behind them that wouldn't quit honking and tailgating them. Andrew had turned aroun in the seat and was watching it, making faces at it. "What an asshole."

"I'm going over the freaking speed limit and there's no one on the road. I'm not sure why he doesn't just pass me if he's so bent on it."

"Because he's a dick," said Steve.

Andrew lifted one hand up like he'd seen Matt and Steve do when they were focusing their powers on something.

"What'cha doin', Drew?" Steve asked.

"Just pretending," said Andrew. He pushed his hand to the side like he was pushing the truck off the road. "Abra-ca-_dabra_."

The truck stayed on the road. Eventually Matt took a side road and the truck passed by. It was normal. It made sense. There was no climax.

But as Andrew sat back in the seat he couldn't ignore the warm twitch in his fingertips and the feeling that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.


End file.
